Crossroads/Borrowed Lives—2026-08-27 (Patreon)

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Chapter 3.1.63: WEEKEND IN SIGHT by Hannah Madison

Before I get into my thoughts, I want to respond to a question that came up in the comments. It was about Shay’s job—she said I should just explain it quickly.

When Shay decided to move here, the need for secrecy and security led to the decoys going on the road and Olivia moving in as a live-in guard. To make the transfer of money less obvious, the Ryder family created a dropshipping company called Best Price Office.

They set up a real company with a real website and planned to buy supplies from it for all the other Ryder Family Holdings, LLC companies, as well as Blue Water Express. Olivia’s income would come from that company, giving her a legitimate job and an ordinary source of income on paper.

They set up the website to be super easy for them to use. Well, other companies found it, and Best Price Office took off. Companies outside the Ryder family are using it now, and the business keeps growing. What started as a cover has become a real job for Shay, Olivia, and Conner.

Chalk one up for serendipity…

I’m out of the office and on my way to a job site. The client and a contractor disagree about what the construction drawings call for. I looked at the drawings, and the contractor is correct.

I need to explain that to the client and find out whether he wants to put that part of the project on hold and redesign it—or whether he realizes it’s exactly what he asked for.

Wish me luck!

That’s it for now. See you next time.

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Chapter 3.1.64: IT’S COMPLICATED by Devon Collier

I mentioned that, after talking to Tom Jenkins, I’ve decided to start working toward an MBA. Rutgers has an online BBA program that can pick up where my associate degree ended, with a path that can eventually take me into the MBA.

That’s probably the less interesting part of the plan. What I want to talk about isn’t the what—it’s the how.

With my decoy traveling around the country, there were two options. One idea was to ignore the possibility that someone, somewhere, might eventually notice Devon Collier’s debit card being used in California while his Rutgers account was being accessed from a New York IP address.

The other was to do something else. The head of Ryder security, Ronald Regent, insisted on the something else.

“Since we have the means to make it look different, we should. No need to take a chance, even if the risk is nearly zero. It’s not zero, but it’s low.”

For me to sit here in Brooklyn and log into my student account while I’m supposedly trekking up the Pacific Coast requires some coordination with Evan, my decoy.

There’s an “and also” that he’ll talk about.

The way I’ll sit here in Brooklyn while my school login appears to come from wherever Evan is really isn’t very high-tech. Jacob thought its simplicity was fairly brilliant.

There are two computers involved. Anytime I need to log into my student account, Evan boots up a dedicated laptop and connects it to whatever internet they’re using. I securely remote into that computer from Brooklyn and control it from here.

The traveling computer is the one that actually connects to my student account, so from Rutgers’ end, it looks like I’m somewhere near wherever Evan is.

The only challenge is planning ahead so he and Mara are somewhere with an internet connection whenever I need to log in. That, however, shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Chapter 3.1.65: UNEXPECTED WINDFALL by Evan Calder

By now, you’ve probably read about Devon Collier’s plan to start working toward an MBA through Rutgers. He explained what he’s doing and how we’re going to pull off the digital part.

Once the plan was almost final, Shay inserted herself into the discussion.

“If Evan has to be on standby while Devon does schoolwork, maybe he should enroll, too.”

That came up a few weeks ago. By now, it had become a reality.

Then came the plot twist—thank you so much, Shay.

She added, “And if Evan is studying while Devon is, Mara could, too, right?”

Ronald Regent doesn’t take orders from Shay, but she presented her argument to Mr. and Mrs. Ryder.

“Ronald,” David Ryder said, “this seems like a nice job benefit for Mr. Calder and Ms. Voss. Shay’s right… They’ll have to stay somewhere with internet while Devon studies, so they might as well benefit from the time, too.”

Since Devon works during the day, most of his study time will be at night. That works fine for Mara and me. We can carry on traveling as long as we get somewhere with a reliable internet connection before Devon needs to log in.

And Devon has said not to sweat it. He’ll be flexible, so it seems like a great situation. Add an MBA program to the benefits package.

Now, some of you might be wondering what happens if we need to get off the grid. If we have to go to ground with the tents and sleeping bags, school creates one small complication.

Along with the three new computers—one for me, one dedicated remote-access laptop for Devon and one for Mara—we now have a portable Starlink setup. I think we’re set.

I’ll end on a different note…

The end of August makes six months since Mara and I agreed that we’re dating. That feels like a notable event, if you ask me.

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